Odd
by The Sacred and Profane
Summary: AU. Raven Roth has loving parents. Garfield Gar Logan does not. Join them as they meet and get to know each other better.
1. Odd

Odd

AN: I do not own anything in this story. Please R&R.

Raven Roth opened one eye blearily and glanced at her alarm clock. Way too early to get up but she couldn't get back to sleep once she'd opened her eyes. She took a shower and came down for a nice cup of herbal tea. Her parent's were already up.

"Good morning princess!" Trigon, Raven's father, said smiling at his only daughter.

"Dad, I've told you a million times not to call me that stupid name!" Raven said loudly.

"I can't help it. It's an ingrained reaction." Raven rolled her eyes at that.

"Oh stop it Raven, just let your father have this one conceit." Raven's mother, Arella, said. Both of her parent's were rich but they were also very kind and most of their money went to charity. Also they did not surround themselves with luxury nor did they spoil Raven. The family lived in a simple one story suburban house. Raven even had to take the bus to school which made the girl very embarrassed. She was a senior in high school not some little kid, but unfortunately she had failed her driver's test 5 times already and couldn't try it again for a couple of months. Today was her first day of the semester and she was hoping she had some good teachers.

Garfield Logan, or Gar as he liked to be called, got up and swiftly changed and showered before running out of his house. His father and mother were both asleep and he didn't want to wake them up. His arms throbbed and some blood trickled down his hands. _Dad must have hit me harder than I thought._ Gar thought to himself. His parents had constantly beaten him throughout his life, but Gar never told anyone. Instead he created an easygoing personality that made him popular with all kinds of people. Running towards the bus, Gar just managed to get on before it left. He instantly spotted Victor Stone, his best friend and star football player. He sat down and the two boys began talking very rapidly about the newest videogames and movies.

"Could you keep it down? My IQ is dropping just from hearing your pointless conversation." A monotone voice spoke up from the seat behind them. Gar was about to really give the guy a piece of his mind when he saw who was talking to him. Shoulder length hair, dyed purple cascaded down the girl's face and her skin was pale but not a sickly pale and her eyes. Gar was drowning in those purple orbs. Raven stared at the odd boy before her. The boy was short and had spiky blond hair and green eyes. His mouth was hanging open and Raven was annoyed at that. "Are you mentally challenged or just stupid?" she asked. Raven poked the boy a little hard on his shoulder.

"OWWW! What did you do that for?" Gar said, rubbing his injured arm.

"You were staring at me like I was a piece of meat or something." Raven said.

"I'm sorry for staring at you but you don't go around poking people in the shoulder!" Raven just rolled her eyes. "I'm Gar by the way. And you are?" Raven sighed heavily.

"Raven." Gar started laughing when he heard her name. "What's so amusing?"

"Are your parent's hippies or what?"

"I don't know, were your parent's cavemen, because Gar sounds like a Neanderthal's name."

"Alright guys, calm down." Victor said getting annoyed at the verbal insults. "You really should apologize for hurting my pal."

"I'm sorry." Raven said. Gar then held out his hand to her and had a goofy looking smile on his face.

"Apology accepted, Rae!" He'd only known her for a couple of moments but Gar liked this girl, even though she was kind of mean.

"It's Raven." But she took the boy's hand and shook it.

"Hey what class do you have first period?" Gar asked.

"English, with Mr. Wilson." Raven said, hoping that the boy would leave her alone. What he said next put an end to that.

"Awesome, me too! I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship Rae!"

"Super." Raven remarked dryly.


	2. Lunch

Lunch

AN: I do not own anything in this story. Please R&R.

Raven sat down in the back to avoid talking to anyone as soon as she got into English. However, she wasn't alone for long. Gar took one look at where she was sitting and joined her.

"Back row seats huh? I like it." Raven didn't respond. Then Mr. Wilson came in. He was middle aged and had an eye patch over his right eye. He was a nice enough teacher but very strict on his grades, so strict in fact that the students gave him a nickname "Deathstroke". Raven listened attentively and took notes as she loved English and everything about it. Gar was bored out of his mind and couldn't wait for lunch. "Hey Rae, what did the mushroom say when he was thrown out of the bar?" Raven ignored him. "C'mon I'm a fungi! Get it?" Then he started laughing.

"Mr. Logan, is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?"

"No sir."

"Then please be quiet." And the lesson resumed.

Later lunch time finally rolled around and Raven was walking towards her usual table, the furthest from everyone else.

"Hey Rae over here!" Gar was sitting with Victor and was patting a seat. Raven sighed but started walking over. _Why am I doing this?_ She thought to herself. However her thoughts were interrupted by a mountain of muscle sticking out his foot. Raven tripped over it and almost hit the floor. Gar moved in a blur and caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Let go of me!" Raven yelled.

"Sorry Rae just didn't want you to get hurt." Gar helped her to her feet. Then he turned towards the guy who had tripped her. "You know what friend anyone ever tell you that you lack compassion?" The student stood up then and he towered over Gar. But he wasn't intimidated.

"Did you say something shrimp?" The student, Mammoth as he was called, said .

"Yeah, I said don't pick on one of my friends." Mammoth reached out a hand bigger than Gar's head and tried to shove him out of the way. However the bully found his arm wrapped in a lock and then his face met the floor. One of the teachers ran up to the boys.

"What's going on here?" Gar smiled brightly at the teacher.

"Nothing, he just tripped." Then he walked back towards his table. Raven followed and sat next to him.

"Why did you do that?" Gar laughed as if she had told a very funny joke.

"You're my friend Rae and you shouldn't be picked on."

"Thank you." She muttered. Gar wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"No problem. Now watch this!" Gar then took a couple of ketchup packets and smeared the contents on his face. "Hello Clarice!" Then he started laughing like crazy. Raven rolled her eyes but didn't leave. In fact after that day, she never sat alone during lunch.


	3. Siblings

Siblings

AN: I don't own anything in this story. Please R&R.

A few weeks later Raven was walking alone towards the cemetery. She held a bouquet of flowers in her hand. She walked onto the well tended lawn of the cemetery and found the headstone she was looking for: Malchior Roth 1987-1995. Raven knelt down by the headstone and placed the flowers next to it. A few tears raced down her pale cheeks.

"Hello Mal, it's me. I know I haven't visited in a while and I'm so sorry for that. Mom and Dad are still the same. I'm the only one who's changed. I miss you Mal, all your silly quirks and I really miss you calling me Rae-Rae. I'm making some friends again and I've met one really odd guy. You'd like him, his name's Gar and he loves making all those silly jokes like you used to. I hope you're happy up in heaven. I'll see you around." Raven then got up to leave when she heard someone laughing. She looked around and spotted Gar of all people standing above a tombstone, laughing while tears were falling out of his eyes.

"It won't come to you anyway! Funny isn't it? No one could tell jokes like you sis. I've made a new friend. She reminds me of you, silly huh? Oh you should see this girl Terra, she's so beautiful. I haven't seen her smile yet but I bet it's as lovely as the rest of her. She's kind of distant but underneath I think she's really kind. Something's happened to her that's caused her to be like that so I'll help her out. You would've done the same. Anyway I've gotta go. Love you." Gar got up and Raven quickly ducked behind her brother's tombstone.

Gar heard a noise coming from behind him. Walking towards the sound he found Raven crouching and holding her knees.

"Rae?" His friend got up.

"I'm sorry, I heard everything you said." Gar just gave her a smile.

"It's okay." Raven looked mortified but she recovered quickly.

"I'm surprised you can still smile like that. Every time I see you you're always smiling but your smile is so sad it hurts to see it. You must be hurting like crazy on the inside." Gar looked at her with a shocked expression.

"How…but I'm not…oh, just come here!" He then took Raven and brought her towards the tombstone he was talking to. "Terra, this is Raven, she's the friend I was talking to you about." Raven looked at the marking on the tombstone: Terra Logan 1983-1998.

"What happened to her?"

"She got sick. The doctors didn't know what it was and she had to stay in the hospital for several months."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, people die it's a part of life. Besides, Terra wouldn't want me to be moping around anyway. What the dead wish for is happiness for those left behind, after all." Raven looked at Gar and Gar looked back. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Raven was the first to break it.

"I have someone to introduce to you." She then walked Gar over to Malchior's tombstone. Gar looked at the tombstone and he started crying.

"Why are you crying?" She asked.

"I don't know it's just he was so young. It's like a real life tragedy, you know? I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this, it's just so…sad."

"He got hit by a car while he was playing out in the street. I was supposed to be watching him but it happened so fast, I couldn't do anything." Raven's voice quivered and then she broke down. She buried her head in Gar's shoulder and cried. "I just wish…that it could have been me instead of him. He was only eight, just a little boy." Gar just held her and let her cry.

Later Gar was walking Raven home and neither spoke until they had arrived.

"Thanks Gar."

"It was nothing Rae. But I do have something to ask you."

"What?" Gar's face turned beet red but he breathed heavily.

"Well, you know about the Halloween dance that's coming up?" Raven nodded. "I'd like you to go with me, please?" Raven loathed going to dances, she thought they were a waste of time but as she looked into Gar's face as he pouted she couldn't resist.

"Alright, I'll go. But I'm not dressing up in any stupid costumes." Gar whooped and hugged Raven.

"Thanks so much, Rae. I'll pick you up at 8:00 Friday night, okay?" Raven nodded and then Gar took off in a blur shouting to any that would here him that he had a date.

"It's not a date, it's just a dance!" Raven yelled after him but secretly she knew that was a lie. "What have I gotten myself into?" She wondered aloud.


	4. Dance

Dance

AN: I don't own anything in this story. Please R&R.

Raven looked at her costume in the mirror. She had chosen to go as a sorceress. The girl chose that because she really didn't have to do anything other than throw a purple cloak over her shoulders. Her parents had been ecstatic when she said she was going to a dance.

"Who's this young man and why haven't we met him yet?" Trigon asked. Raven sighed.

"He's a friend I met at the start of the year and he's a bit of an oddball."

"Now Raven, don't judge others." Arella said.

"Whatever." Just then the doorbell rang and Raven cringed. Her father ran to answer it before she could even put one foot in front of the other.

"Raven, you never told us your date was green." Raven came up and then saw that Gar had covered his head in green paint making his hair and skin green.

"Yep, I must have gotten a case of gangrene." Gar said and that sent Trigon into hysterics. Raven just rolled her eyes.

"What are you supposed to be?" Raven asked.

"I'm not really sure. I just decided to do something unique. Like it?"

"It's…different." Raven said. Gar smiled at her.

"Thanks." Before Raven could get him out of there Arella came in holding a tape.

"Gar, was it? Would you like to watch one of Raven's ice skating videos?" Gar smiled again.

"I'd love to."

"_Mom_!" Raven said loudly, a blush tinting her cheeks. Arella didn't pay her any mind and put the tape in. The tape showed a person dressed as a fairy pop up and Gar knew it was Raven from her purple hair. He was looking at Raven with admiration. "Shut up." Raven muttered.

"You're the fairy?" Raven nodded, pulling the hood on her costume over her face. The video went on for a few more minutes and then stopped.

"Well that was awesome, but we have to go." Raven said dryly.

"Alright get out of here, go on." Raven started to leave but was stopped by Arella. "Hold on, give me a hug." Raven rolled her eyes but walked over and hugged her mother. Arella kissed her on the forehead. "I love you so much." Gar then headed for the door but Arella stopped him too. "You're giving me a hug too."

"Mom!" Raven said again but Gar just smiled.

"I'll take a hug." Then he hugged onto Arella for a few seconds and then left with Raven.

Gar held open the door to his car for her and then the two drove off.

"Your parents are really nice."

"Yeah, but I wish they wouldn't pull that stupid crap on all my friends who come over."

"Well I thought you were adorable." Gar said.

"One more comment like that and I'll walk home." Raven threatened. Gar stayed quiet until they reached the school. Again opening Raven's door he also held out his arm for her. Raven took it and the pair walked into the school gym and that was when Raven remembered why she didn't come to dances. Groups of students were bopping along to some loud noise that could barely be considered music. Gar took one look at that and took off but he stopped when he realized Raven wasn't coming.

"Rae, c'mon you have to at least dance with me once." Raven just glared at him and Gar started moving about in ways that made Raven think he was having seizures. She got some punch and laughed as Gar did even more weird movements. He saw her laughing and smiled at her. Just then a slow song came on and Raven cringed. Gar walked over to her and held out a hand. "One dance." Raven sighed heavily but took his hand. Gar and Raven walked to a less populated area of the dance floor and Gar put his hands around her waist. Raven blushed.

"Umm, I don't really know how to dance." Gar just smiled at her warmly.

"Then I'll show you. Just follow my lead." He then moved gracefully left and right and Raven found that she could match him perfectly. Then she stepped on his foot but the boy didn't mind and gave Raven another beaming smile. After the song Raven and Gar went outside for some fresh air. The stars were twinkling in the heavens and the night air was cool.

"Thanks for teaching me how to dance." Raven said.

"Anytime Rae." Gar was silent for a few moments but then spoke up. "Do you ever wish you were someone else?" Raven looked at him oddly.

"No, I'm happy being who I am."

"It's just you know people look at me and just assume I'm a funny guy all the time and that I really can't behave any other way." Raven put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you're fine just the way you are." Gar smiled again for what seemed the hundredth time that night.

"Thank you Rae. You really are good at making people feel better."

"Mal used to ask me stuff like that all the time."

"I'm sorry." But Raven shook her head.

"It's alright." But as she spoke a single tear raced its way down her cheek. Gar took one finger and brushed it away.

"Crying really doesn't suit you Rae." Gar whispered. Raven gave him a small smile. "Now smiling, that makes you heavenly." Raven leaned in closer to Gar.

"Is that paint toxic?" Gar shook his head. "Good." She then leaned in and her lips met his. It was a chaste kiss but Gar loved it more than any other he had ever experienced but like all good things it came in short supply. Raven broke away and pulled her hood over her face. "I'm sorry…I don't usually do that…" But Gar leaned in again and kissed her. "You shouldn't cover up your beautiful face so much." Raven blushed but lowered her hood and lost herself in the moment.


	5. Pain

Pain

AN: I do not own anything in this story. Please R&R.

After the dance Gar took Raven home and the girl hugged him tightly.

"Thank you for a wonderful night, Gar."

"Anytime Rae." Then Raven got out of the car and Gar drove off. He had to take the car back to Victor's house. His own parents would never let him own a car so he had asked Victor to borrow one of his old ones and he had agreed. Parking the car and returning the keys, Gar started walking home thinking of the beautiful girl he had spent the evening with. Just as he was passing an alley a muscular arm reached out and grabbed him.

"Well look who it is!" Mammoth said, smirking at Gar. "I still haven't paid you back for knocking me out you little bastard!" Gar kneed him in the groin and the huge bully fell down to the ground in pain. Gar was about to run when two others appeared behind him and grabbed his arms. "Hold him still you guys!" Mammoth then put a pair of brass knuckles over his hands. Mammoth then punched Gar hard in the stomach and the boy felt one of his ribs crack. He didn't cry out yet though. "Think you're tough do ya?" Then Mammoth started striking again and again all over Gar's body. The cartilage in his nose broke as well as his ribs. Blood cascaded down his body and he was barely conscious. The two accomplices let go and Gar would have hit the ground if he wasn't caught roughly by Mammoth. Wrapping one huge hand around his throat he started choking him. Gar tried to scream but the only thing that came out of his mouth was blood. Mammoth finally dropped the boy and ran off along with his friends.

Victor was running after Gar because he had left his homework at his house when he heard a struggle coming from an alleyway. He saw three figures run away and a fourth passed out on the ground. Running up to help the person he was shocked to find his battered friend.

"Gar, hold on!" Whipping out his cell phone he dialed the paramedics. Within 5 minutes they got to the horribly beaten teen. "Will my friend be okay?" Victor asked a young dark haired paramedic.

"I don't know." The man, whose name was Dick, said. Victor stayed behind and gave an account to the police of what he saw and then he walked back towards his house, his mind in a blur over what had just happened.

The next school day Raven was looking for Gar. She hadn't heard from him all weekend and she was worried. She saw Victor at lunch, staring down at the table with a vacant expression on his face.

"Victor." The teen shot up at his name.

"Raven, have you heard?"

"Heard what?" What Victor said next made her heart nearly stop beating.

"Gar's in the hospital, unresponsive. Someone beat him up last Friday night."

"Do his parent's know?" Victor shrugged his shoulders.

"I've never met them and Gar doesn't talk about them, in fact I don't think I've ever been over to his house." Raven got the hospital's location from Victor and then skipped the rest of her classes to go see Gar. At the hospital Raven got past the receptionist fairly quickly and asked a nurse where Gar was.

"He's in room 18 on the second floor." Raven rushed up there and saw Gar in a hospital bed, hooked up to life support. A nurse was attending him. She spotted Raven and asked what she was doing here.

"That's my boyfriend." The nurse looked at her sadly.

"He's been completely unresponsive the entire time." Raven went up to Gar's still frame and noticed the extent of his wounds. Long scars covered his body and white scar tissue was over them, revealing that those wounds had been reopened again and again.

"What are these from?" Raven said, pointing to the scars.

"Those are old wounds and not his more recent injuries, I'm afraid. His latest injuries include 4 broken ribs, a broken nose, an injured throat and massive internal bleeding. Another odd thing we've noticed is that his bones seem to have been broken and reset numerous times. We suspect he's a victim of child abuse. Do you know about this or has he ever mentioned about his home life?"

"No, he's always so happy. The only thing I know is that his sister died of a disease a couple of years ago."

"Sister? What was her name?"

"Terra."

"Terra Logan? That girl didn't die from a disease. She was found savagely beaten and rushed to the hospital but she died from her injuries." Raven's mind was racing from all this new information.

"Have his parent's been notified yet?" Raven asked.

"We tried the number but no one answered or returned our messages." The nurse then gave Raven the Logan's home address and went to check on her other patients. Raven approached Gar's broken form and grasped his hand. Tears raced down her pale face.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell anyone about this?" She received no answer of course. "I'll be back." Raven whispered and placed a kiss on her boyfriend's forehead.

Raven stood in front of Gar's house. The building had a sinister look; as if some horrible crime had been committed there years ago and the blood of the victims still remained. She walked across a dead lawn and approached the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.


	6. Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

AN: I do not own anything in this story. Please R&R.

A man answered the door. He was blond and had Gar's eyes but he gazed at Raven with something else lurking in his eyes, something sinister.

"Yes?" The man said in a calm tone.

"Your son is in the hospital." The man's expression didn't change in the slightest.

"Come in. You're trembling." Raven nodded and came in. It was the only way she was going to find out the truth. "Honey, could you make some tea? We have a guest, a friend of Gar's apparently." Gar's father led Raven through a well decorated house. It didn't look any different from any other suburban home. Just then an attractive blonde haired woman came in and smiled at Raven.

"And just how do you know our son?"

"We're dating." The couple looked at each other with shocked expressions. Then the husband started laughing, great big peals of laughter that shook his whole body.

"It seems even that little shit can find someone." Mr. Logan said with malice in his voice. Raven started backing towards the door but Mr. Logan grabbed her roughly. "You're trembling again. Just like Garfield did when we began his "therapy"."

"What did you do to him?!" Raven yelled.

"Our dear boy saw something he shouldn't have so we had to try and make him forget. First we used pain. We shocked him, whipped him, and even broke a few of his bones. But that didn't work so we resorted to Mrs. Logan's tea. She's something of a genius when it comes to herbs and drugs of that sort. But it seems that didn't work." Mr. Logan then withdrew a syringe from his jacket. It was filled with a milky substance and Raven had fear in her eyes. "You see one night, our dear daughter Terra tried to run away. We had used the same "therapy" on her to test something or other. I forget just exactly what we were trying to do. Needless to say we made sure she would never try and run away again and Garfield saw us. And now it seems we have another person to get rid of." Just as the syringe was about to poke into Raven's skin the door crashed in and scores of policeman came in.

"Freeze! Drop the weapon now!" Mr. Logan did as he was asked and they put him and his wife in handcuffs. Raven removed the wire from her shirt and gave it to one of the detectives.

"Will that put them away?" The detective nodded and Raven left to go see her boyfriend.

Gar's dreams were troubled. He saw his sister being hit again and again as he watched from his hiding place. He had wanted to save her but his little body couldn't stand up to his parents. They had found him hiding and dragged him out. They shoved his face into Terra's cold lifeless eyes.

"Why did you hurt Terra?" The small boy asked.

"She tried to run, Garfield. She was a bad girl." The child then felt a needle poke into his neck and he was knocked out. They had shocked him and beat him and then drugged him. "Terra died from a disease. It was very sad, wasn't it Gar?" Eventually the boy's mind began to accept this version of events but in his dreams he saw those lifeless blue eyes staring at him. And he heard her voice.

"Gar…don't cry. You've got to live. No matter what you've got to stay alive." Gar's eyes shot open and he found himself sitting underneath a massive cherry tree. A small boy with violet eyes and dark hair was standing over him.

"I'm Mal and you know my sister Rae-Rae!" Gar nodded. "I'm so glad! You've made her really happy but right now she's sad because you're gone. So wake up already sleepyhead! If you don't I'll beat you up for making Rae-Rae cry!"

"Oh Mal, don't worry. My little brother wouldn't leave your sister alone." Gar started at the voice that said this and saw his sister standing beside Mal. "Hey Gar, long time no see!" Gar smiled at her and tried to speak but found that he couldn't. "Sorry this is only for a short while, it's not your time yet." Terra looked at her brother with those lively blue eyes that Gar remembered so well. Gar tried to reach out a hand to grab onto Terra but she just looked at him with compassion. "Don't worry, we'll see each other again and tell Raven that Mal want's her to cheer up and stop being so grumpy all the time, okay?" Gar nodded and then he was blinded by a white light and the two figures disappeared. Gar awoke to find Raven sleeping in a chair next to him.

"Rae?" At her name the teen opened her eyes and then rubbed them, as if not believing what she was seeing. Then she flung herself onto Gar's beaten up form. He winced but found that it didn't hurt so badly.

"Your parents won't hurt you again, Gar. I made sure of it. Right now they're awaiting trial for manslaughter." Gar didn't know how to feel at that but quickly shook it out of his head.

"Thank you for saving me Rae. I saw Mal and he told me to tell you to stop being so grumpy all the time and cheer up." Raven started crying at this but nodded.

"I don't think I'll be so sad now that I have you in my life." Gar gave her a beaming smile and wiped some tears off her face.

"I told you Rae, crying doesn't suit you." Raven gave him a beautiful smile and she leaned in to kiss him.

"Hold on just a second there princess!" Trigon shouted from the door. Raven whirled around, blushing heavily. "Who knows what germs you're giving him from that kiss?" Trigon said. Raven walked up and glared at her father.

"Dad, you ruined a perfectly good moment." She then smiled and hugged her father very tightly. "But I forgive you." Trigon looked down at his daughter with astonishment.

"That's the first time you've willingly hugged me since Mal's funeral."

"And I'm sorry for that. You and Mom have been so patient with me. Thank you."

"Anything for my princess." Raven smiled at that and hugged her father again while Gar cheered from his bed.

_A few months later…_

The couple walked hand in hand towards the cemetery, bouquets in hand. They both knelt in front of two headstones and paid their respects. Then they switched positions and repeated their thanks for the dead. Raven walked up to Gar and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" She whispered. Gar quickly turned around and hugged her fiercely.

"Safe. When I'm with you I feel so safe, like I'm home." Raven smiled at that and the two walked away, hand in hand. Cherry blossoms flew past the pair as they walked home, touching the two lover's like a farewell kiss.


End file.
